Keep your cool with grilled steak salad and Rioja (#WinePW)

On a hot day, cooking outside makes sense. But, to keep cool in the summer heat, why not add your grilled steak to a salad?

The spouse and I recently took this approach for the upcoming Wine Pairing Weekend chat on Saturday, July 13. This month’s theme is barbecue and Rioja. You can follow along on Twitter, starting at 11 am ET, by using the hashtag, #WinePW.

To be honest, we don’t have a barbecue or grill at the moment. I know – that’s positively un-American. Un-Canadian, too. We do intend to remedy this dreadful deficit soon. For now, we called on our friend Emily, who owns a gas grill and has some prowess as a griller, to cook up the main dish however she liked. 

Now wait just a minute, you say. Is gas-grilled meat technically barbecue? For this month’s pairing, our host Jeff of foodwineclick graciously is allowing any food cooked by fire. 

What does barbecue mean to you?

Barbecue, it seems, means different things to different people, depending on your experiences and childhood memories. Growing up in the New York City suburbs, I formed my notion of barbecue from savoring my dad’s prized, charcoal-grilled chicken.

“Stand back,” he’d shout to us kids as he threw lighter fluid on the coals.

My mom tenderly rubbed oleo margarine and paprika into the chicken skin prior to grilling, and dad labored over the meat until it cooked to crispy perfection.

In Pennsylvania, where I’ve lived most of my adult life – and elsewhere in the country – barbecue is pulled pork, preferably cooked on an open spit, though some people nowadays cook their pulled-pork “barbecue” in a crockpot.

Others associate “barbecue” with brisket or ribs.

The same weekend as our barbecue and Rioja pairing, barbecue was the subject of the “Five Myths” weekly column in The Washington Post.

Jim Auchmutey, author of Smokelore: A short History of Barbecue in America, notes that while there are four dominant styles of barbecue in the United States – Texas, North Carolina, Memphis and Kansas City – distinctive regional varieties abound. Take, for example, Chicago (rib tips), St. Louis (pig snoots), Baltimore (pit beef) and Kentucky (smoked mutton). The list goes on.

Gas grilling is one of the most contentious issues in barbecue. Though Auchmutey is a traditionalist and campaigns for the use of wood only in barbecue restaurants, he acknowledges that about 80 million Americans have some kind of backyard grill, and roughly 62% of those are gas.

A really cool pairing

Any way you slice it, barbecue is made for Rioja – and the 2015 LAN Rioja Crianza DOC (Denominación de Origen Calificada) that we sampled for this pairing certainly proved this to be true.

Please note that while the wine for this post was provided, opinions are my own.

Founded in 1972 LAN is an acronym for the three provinces that make up Rioja: Logroño, Alava and Navarra. LAN’s vineyards are located along the meandering Ebro river. According to the tech sheet, the bodega (winery) is known for paying growers “more” for top-quality fruit.

Grapes are sourced from Rioja Alta and Rioja Alavesa. These are the highest altitude regions that enjoy the most favorable climate – mild and not too hot.

The grapes are 96% Tempranillo and 4% Mazuelo (Carignan, outside of Spain). After they are de-stemmed, the grapes are lightly crushed and fermented on their skins in stainless steel tanks for 15 days. The juice is pumped over the cap of skins daily for maximum color and aromatic extraction. “Crianza” refers to the length of time aging. Longer-aged wines are labeled “Reserva” and “Gran Reserva.” A Rioja “Joven” undergoes no aging.

This LAN Crianza is aged for 18 months in combined American and French-oak barrels, followed by nine months of rounding in the bottle prior to release. Alcohol is 13.5%. At $13.99 on wine.com, this Rioja is, quite frankly, a steal.

My tasting notes:  Deep ruby red in color. Aromas of ripe red cherry, raspberry and cranberry. On the palate, I get an earthy mix of leather, tobacco, smoke and licorice with vanilla creeping in on the edges. Medium+ acid. Long finish. A little grippy (tannic) right now, but it has the potential to smooth out with further aging. 

Here are the secrets to Emily’s grilled steak salad:

1. Marinate flank steak for 24 hours in ½ cup olive oil, ½ cup red wine, 2 tbsp. each of ketchup and dijon mustard, and a dash of Worcestershire sauce. Season to taste with Emeril seasoning, salt and freshly ground black pepper. Flip once during this time.
2. Grill on high for 3-5 minutes on each side.  Then let stand for 10 minutes before slicing steak against the grain.
3. Mix together torn romaine lettuce, sliced scallions, cherry tomatoes and croutons. 
4. For the dressing, combine two parts olive oil to one part lemon juice, salt, pepper and a little grated parmesan. Add to salad ahead of time to wilt lettuce.
5. Add grilled steak and serve.

Predictably, proteins and fat in the steak bind with the tannins to smooth out the wine. An excellent meal – thank you, Emily!

Check out the other barbecue and Rioja suggestions and tasting notes posted by these terrific bloggers:

• Deanna at Asian Test Kitchen shares “Vegan BBQ: 3 Ideas to Pair with Crianza Rioja”
• Lori at Exploring the Wine Glass shares “A Father’s Passion is Passed Down to Daughter and Expressed in Bottle”
• David from Cooking Chat shares “Grilled Paprika Pork Chops with a Rioja”
• Jane at Always Ravenous shares “Grilled Sausage Feast Paired with Rioja Crianza”
• Lauren at The Swirling Dervish shares “Paella and Bodegas LAN: Perfect for Your Summer BBQ“
• Jill at L’Occasion shares “On the Grill with Rioja Wine“
• Jennifer at Vino Travels Italy shares “Oven Roasted Italian Sausage with Rioja Riserva“
• Martin at Enofylz Wine Blog shares “Grilled Garam Masala Lamb Chops paired with Bodega LAN Reserva“
• Camilla at Culinary Adventures with Camilla shares “Robatayaki and Rioja Wines, the Perfect Summertime Party”
• Pinny at Chinese Food & Wine Pairings shares “Bodegas LAN Rioja Crianza and Thick-Cut Sirloin Steak on the Grill”
• Wendy at A Day in the Life on the Farm shares “Our Favorite BBQ Ribs with LAN Rioja“
• Gwen at Wine Predator shares “An American Summer BBQ with a Red and a Rose from Rioja”
• Nicole at Somm’s Table shares “Cooking to the Wine: Bodegas LAN Rioja Reserva with Smoky Seared Octopus”
• Rupal at Syrah Queen shares “Bodegas LAN Rioja with Canjun Butter Steak”
• Jeff at Food Wine Click! shares “Smoking Low & Slow with Rioja Wines”